Erdogan gift: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan presented a rare but ‘unusual’ gift to NATO leaders attending the NATO Summit in Ankara; a revolver and live cartridges to go with it. However, the Gumusay .357 Magnum revolver gifted by Erdogan to his NATO allies is more than just a gift, but represents Ankara’s larger strategy to showcase the growing might of its expansive defense industry.
Why Gumusay .357 Magnum is significant?
Manufactured by Turkey’s state-owned defense firm, MKE, in the 1990s, the Gumusay .357 Magnum is a rare revolver which is no longer produced in the market as the Turkish arms industry has shifted focus to modern automatic and semi-automatic weapons.
Erdogan’s gift was set in a wooden display box featuring Turkey’s flag and the NATO logo as well as a placard inscribed “Gumusay, the first revolver-type handgun produced in our country” in Turkish and English.
Each Gumusay .357 Magnum had the name of the respective leader engraved on the barrel, and came with six live bullets, making it a complete collector’s item set.
Who makes Gumusay .357 Magnum?
Notably, MKE, the makers of the vintage Gumusay Magnum revolver, is today Turkey’s largest state-owned arms manufacturer, but its history is older than modern Turkey, dating back to the 15th century, when Sultan Mehmet II of the Ottoman Empire established a cannon-casting foundry.
MKE, founded in 1950, is today one of the largest defense firms in Turkey, manufacturing assault rifles, sniper rifles, mortars, howitzers, naval guns, ammunition, air defense systems, and even drones for the Turkish military. The company exports defense equipment to more than 40 countries.
Why Erdogan gifted a vintage revolver to NATO leaders?
While the Gumusay Magnum is now just a vintage collector’s item, Erdogan gifting it to NATO leaders carried a deeper meaning as he aimed to showcase the rapid progress Turkey’s arms industry has made in the past few decades.
MKE now produces advanced weaponry, including MPT assault rifles, KN-12 sniper rifles, BORAN 105mm howitzers, naval guns, and various types of ammunition, and Erdogan’s commemorative gift subtly told the world how Turkey has emerged as one of the world’s largest arms exporters.
According to the Small Arms Survey, between 2019 and 2024, Turkey was the world’s third-largest small arms exporter, selling weapons worth nearly $3 billion during this period.
Did Donald Trump accept Erdogan’s gift?
All NATO leaders, including US President Donald Trump received Erdogan’s unique yet unusual gift, though it presented some legal issues for several countries like Britain, Canada, and Belgium due to the gun laws in their respective countries.
Some leaders, including Belgian premier, Bart De Wever, surrendered the gun to their respective security agencies, while others said the vintage six-shooter will be placed in a museum.
First published on: Jul 10, 2026 07:25 PM IST
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